English Metrics

Welcome to English Metrics, a tutorial on what metrical verse is and how to scan it.

The program's main window is the one where you're reading this. Most of the main information in the tutorial is present here, and this is also where you step through interactive exercises meant to bring the textual information into practical focus.

To get here, you clicked in the "Map" window. It works as a top-level menu for various parts of the program. Beside the "Intro" button you clicked to get here, a button called "What's Metrics" gives you a general overview of the topic.Below that is a row of three buttons that take you to different kinds of tutorials on scansion. Two more buttons below that take you to a list of "Advanced Topics" and a list of "Additional Exercises" that let you practice scanning various kinds of metrical lines.

Important: At the bottom of the "Map" are buttons called "Glossary" and "Reference." These both open into menus of terms and topics. When you select any of those, a separate window opens to show you definitions of terms or give a thumbnail sketch of a concept or procedure. This window stays open until you close it, so you can leave it on the screen while you continue to work through tutorials and topics in the main window.

To get everything you can out of "English Metrics," work your way across and down the "Map" and consult the "Glossary" and "Reference" whenever you need a definition or a reminder.